Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Arbitration

Snapshots: Gagner, Saunders Tributes, Arbitration History

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Sam Gagner’s contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets is right on the money reports the Columbus Post Dispatch’s Michael Arace. Gagner, Arace writes, is a player with a perception who does not live up to his given abilities. He also says it’s not entirely fair. Coming in at cap friendly one-year, $650K deal, Arace notes that it’s a chance for Gagner to prove who he really is as a hockey player at a very low cost. Gagner believes that his “best hockey is ahead of him,” and at the price of $650K, Arace writes that the deal is “one of the best deals (Blue Jackets general manager) Jarmo Kekalainen has made.” Further, Arace indicates that Gagner worked his way back from a demotion and hung on to play meaningful playoff hockey for the Flyers. The low risk, high reward for Gagner seems to serve a purpose for both the Jackets and Gagner.

In other NHL news:

  • Scores of hockey reporters, and analysts paid their respects to the late John Saunders, who passed away earlier today at the age of 61. Saunders was known as one of the most down to earth professionals in the business of sports. Mike Tirico gave a long tribute to his former colleague while Scott Van Pelt tweeted a very heartfelt, and emotional response to the shocking news.  Linda Cohn, a longtime ESPN anchor, and hardcore hockey fan, called  Saunders “a friend” while Steve Levy tweeted that Saunders was “the most generous, charitable, caring person I knew.” Finally, ESPN included a long tribute to Saunders’ work and personality.
  • Sean McIndoe includes a very interesting piece on the history of arbitration in the NHL. While cases went to arbitration this season, none were solved by an arbitrator, instead being concluded by contract extensions between the team and player. McIndoe writes about the infamous ruling–back in the “older days” of the NHL, that involved Scott Stevens and Brendan Shanahan. McIndoe explains the previous RFA rules, where if restricted free agents were targeted, both teams would offer what they felt was proper compensation for the targeted RFA–in the way of players. As history would have it, the Devils requested then Blues captain Scott Stevens, who at the time, was already considered a premier NHL defenseman. Of course, it was granted by the arbitrator, and all hell broke loose. McIndoe goes on to tell some other great stories that include hall of fame bound Eric Lindros.

Snapshots: St. Louis, Barrie, Marner

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Sixteen years ago today was one to remember for the Tampa Bay Lightning, as on July 31st, 2000 they signed Martin St. Louis after he’d been released by the Calgary Flames.  One of the biggest little-men in NHL history, the 5’8″ St. Louis would go on to score 953 points for the Lightning, and helped lead them to their first and only Stanley Cup championship in 2004.  Their all-time leading scorer, and a two-time Olympian, St. Louis finished his career with the New York Rangers and is currently #71 on the all-time points list. He’s got a good case for a hall-of-fame induction eventually, and it’s all because Tampa Bay gave the diminutive forward a second-chance in the NHL.

  • The only player to have reached salary arbitration this year, Tyson Barrie had his hearing on Friday to determine his cost for the upcoming season. The arbitrator had 48 hours to make her decision, and that window will come to an end at 1:30pm today central time. We profiled Barrie’s case last week, and showed how well he compares to some of the elite offensive defensemen in the league. Now, with only a few hours left (as of this writing) to negotiate a deal, it’s coming down to the wire for the two sides to reconcile their perceived differences.
  • Mitch Marner, the sometimes-forgotten uber-prospect in the Maple Leafs system is in an interesting situation this season; the 19-year old is too young for the AHL, and must either crack the NHL roster or go back to junior to play for the OHL’s London Knights. When asked about his possible play at this year’s World Junior Championship, Marner intimated that he’s doing everything he can to stay in the NHL. “It’s not up to me. If I am in the OHL, then I am going to play and look forward to it.”  Fellow top-prospect Dylan Strome was much less reserved about his hopes for next year when he was asked the same thing by Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun: “I feel like I’m done with junior, and don’t want to be there next year, but if Arizona thinks it’s best for me, I don’t have a choice.” Strome and Marner were picked third and fourth overall in the 2015 draft, following Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, who have both already made an impact at the NHL level.

Calculating Kucherov’s Potential Value As RFA

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov is perhaps the best player still without a contract for 2016-17. Of course as a RFA without arbitration rights and given there is practically no chance another team would dare an offer sheet, Kucherov has almost no leverage to use in negotiations for a new deal. Regardless, Kucherov is going to get a significant raise over the modest $700K he earned in salary this year. That might not bode too well for Tampa, who has around $6.5MM in cap space with Kucherov and D Nikita Nestorov still to re-sign. Still, despite the relative lack of apparent progress, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is quite confident a deal with Kucherov will get done, as Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes.

Naturally, knowing a deal will get done and knowing what that done deal will look like are two very different things. Smith speculates that the six-year, $36MM ($6MM AAV) contract Filip Forsberg signed with Nashville serves as a good comparable.

Like Kucherov, Forsberg was coming off his ELC when he agreed to his new pact. In terms of offensive production, there are strong similarities between the two. Forsberg has averaged 0.33 Goals/Game and 0.73 Pts/Game during his 182-game NHL career. Kucherov counters with nearly identical scoring rates of 0.32 Goals/Game and 0.71 Pts/Game over 211 games. Forsberg’s deal certainly would seem to represent a fair comparable.

Yzerman is as patient as they come in his role as GM and he will only make a deal if he feels it fits into the club’s salary structure. Not long ago it seemed all but certain that Steven Stamkos would sign a contract worth close to $10MM annually, whether with Tampa or another club, as that is the going rate for elite players. Yet Yzerman sold Stamkos on his long-term vision for the program and convinced the star sniper to take a more palatable figure for the team.

After getting Stamkos’ name on the dotted line, Yzerman moved to sign franchise defenseman Victor Hedman a year before he would have hit free agency. Ultimately, Hedman and the Lightning agreed to an eight-year, $63MM deal many in the industry feel is a steal for a player of his caliber.

Yzerman might not be the perfect GM (the Ryan Callahan contract already looks like it’s going to be an anchor) but he has done a tremendous job getting most of his own guys to re-sign for fair-market value or less, allowing enough space to get his RFA’s done.

That being said, Kucherov’s representation might look elsewhere for comparable contracts to base their argument on. One such deal is the eight-year, $60MM pact Vladimir Tarasenko obtained from the St. Louis Blues earlier this year. If we again take into account relative offensive production over the last three seasons, Kucherov matches up fairly  well with Tarasenko. The Blues winger is slightly more productive offensively, both in the goal scoring (0.37 goals-per-game) and points departments (0.75 points-per-game). But the difference is small enough that Kucherov’s camp could reasonably push for a contract somewhat closer to Tarasenko’s in AAV.

On the other side of the coin, Mike Hoffman, who recently inked a four-year extension with Ottawa worth $20.75MM ($5.1875MM AAV) could also be used as a marker for Kucherov’s value. Hoffman comes up just shy in terms of points-per-game (0.68) but is essentially equal as a goal-scorer based on rates. Hoffman has averaged 0.36 goals-per-game over the last two seasons while Kucherov has recorded 0.37 per, over the same time frame.

At the end of the day, the Forsberg contract is likely going to be close to what the two sides end up agreeing upon. Kucherov has outproduced Hoffman enough to justify an AAV higher than $5.1875MM. And while Kucherov isn’t too far off from Tarasenko offensively, the Blues winger is the more electric goal scorer and goals pay better than assists. Those factors combined with Yzerman’s ability to make deals on his terms point to the likelihood of something in the range of $6MM annually.

Snapshots: Coyotes; Gagner; Barrie

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

News and notes around the NHL:

  • With the recent signings of Connor Murphy and Michael Stone, the Arizona Coyotes now have eight defensemen signed to NHL deals—and that’s not even including top draft prospect Jake Chychrun, whom the Coyotes moved up for in the 2016 NHL Draft. As Craig Morgan of AZSports writes, the backlog of NHL-ready defensemen poses both problem and prosperity for the team. It creates a logjam of defensemen and little opportunity for prospects like Chychrun to get playing time, but it also gives them expendable pieces to upgrade other areas. The Coyotes may have to look elsewhere for offensive help if they cannot re-sign RFA Tobias Rieder before the season starts. Trading from a position of strength to obtain a forward kills two birds with one stone. Take a look at Arizona’s depth chart at Roster Resource.
  • UFA Sam Gagner is close to signing a deal with an NHL team, according to his agent. Gagner last played for the Philadelphia Flyers where he scored 8G and 8A in 53 games. The Canadian center held much promise as a member of the Edmonton Oilers from 2007-2014, including netting eight points in one game, but never fulfilled the potential scouts thought he had. Gagner will probably take a one-year “prove it” deal to try and revitalize his career.
  • RFA Tyson Barrie completed his arbitration hearing today, and the arbitrator will issue her decision within 48 hours. Because Colorado offered a $4MM contract, and Barrie offered a $6MM contract, the arbitrator’s decision will most likely meet the threshold ($3.9MM) to open up Colorado’s walk-away rights. If Colorado chooses to invoke those rights, they will be stuck with the arbitrator’s decision for one year before Barrie becomes a free agent. When a team elects a two-year term decision for any player-elected salary arbitration, using walk away rights reduces the arbitrator’s decision down to one year, and then the player becomes a UFA.

 

Arbitration Hearing Opens For Tyson Barrie

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Denver Post’s Terry Frei reports that Tyson Barrie’s arbitration meeting opened this morning in Toronto. After failing to agree on terms with the Colorado Avalanche, arbitrator Elizabeth Neumeier was presented the arguments for both sides.

Barrie’s camp argues that the defenseman is due a one-year, $6MM deal while the Avalanche counter that the 25-year-old be paid $4MM in 2016-17, and $4.25MM in 2017-18.

Frei writes that Neumeier will make her decision within the next 48 hours. Meanwhile, James Mirtle tweets that the hearing could get “ugly,” though there are still some who believe a deal could get done. The Avs d-man should receive a hefty raise regardless of term.

PHR provided an arbitration preview for Barrie earlier in the week.

Colorado Avalanche Depth Chart

 

Arizona Stays Busy, Lock Up Stone To One-Year Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Immediately on the heels of the Connor Murphy signing, the Arizona Coyotes have inked fellow blue liner Michael Stone to a one-year, $4MM contract, according to AZSports’ Craig Morgan. Stone and the Coyotes had been scheduled to go to arbitration on August 4th but the two parties obviously found common ground and thus avoided a hearing.

Stone blossomed in his fourth full season in the desert, averaging nearly 22:30 of ice time per game. He ranked second among Arizona defensemen behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson, tallying 36 points in 2015-16. The Coyotes drafted the 26-year-old in the third-round (69th overall) of the 2008 draft.

After accounting for Stone’s deal, Arizona is left with more than $6MM in cap space and only RFA Tobias Rieder left unsigned. That figure is a bit surprising given how busy the Coyotes have been this summer upgrading their roster. In addition to locking up their own RFA’s, Arizona has re-upped with Shane Doan (one-year, $3.88MM), signed UFA winger Jamie McGinn to a multi-year deal worth $10MM over three seasons, and acquired pending free agent Alex Goligoski via trade before extending his contract for five years with an AAV of nearly $5.5MM. That doesn’t even include Pavel Datsyuk’s $7.5MM cap hit which Arizona absorbed as part of a deal to move up four slots in the first round of the recent draft. To still be $6MM under the cap ceiling is an impressive bit of work from John Chayka.

Given the offseason work and the young talent already on the roster, it’s conceivable the Coyotes could force their way into a playoff spot in 2016-17. That’s especially true if goaltender Mike Smith, who missed three months of action last season due to a core muscle injury, returns to form as a quality netminder.

 

 

Atlantic Notes: Kane, Ceci, Leafs

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After turning himself in for arrest on July 22nd, Evander Kane was charged with four counts of non-criminal harassment and one count of criminal trespass which, according to Kane’s attorney Paul Cambria, he plans to plead not guilty to. Now, police documents acquired by WKBW Buffalo show (via Deadspin) sworn statements from multiple women and the bouncer at the club which the incident occurred.

“He grabbed my hair. He pulled it so hard he pulled my whole head. It hurt a lot.” claims one of the women, who also says Kane tried to force her to kiss his hand. Another woman claims that this is “how he always treats women. Aggressive and disrespectful.”

Immediately after news of the incident broke, trade speculation surrounding the former fourth-overall pick heated up, with many believing that his hometown of Vancouver would be a natural destination as they look to rebuild their club. Canucks’ beat writer Jason Botchford (The Province) fanned the flames today when he told TSN 1040 “there is no doubt about it. The Vancouver Canucks are going to be in on Evander Kane. Ownership loves Kane. Jim Benning really likes Kane. Trevor (Linden) is maybe a little ambivalent, but he can be won over.” Kane has two seasons remaining at $5.25MM, and scored just 35 points last season.

  • The Ottawa Senators addressed one problem today when they re-signed RFA Mike Hoffman to a four-year deal, and will now turn their attention to defenseman Cody Ceci. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports what many have thought, that Ceci is amiably working towards a deal with the Sens and will work something out before camp starts.  Garrioch goes on to report that the sides are working on a two-year deal at the moment, though obviously anything can change before ink goes to paper. Ceci scored a career-high 10 goals last season and is a big part of the Senators’ top four.
  • Martin Marincin represents the Toronto Maple Leafs’ last remaining arbitration case after re-signing Peter Holland and Frankie Corrado on Monday.  While Marincin offers some intrigue to Leaf fans because of his improved play last year as Morgan Rielly’s partner, there is more to his signing than meets the eye. Three days after Marincin signs (or has the arbitration dispute resolved at his August 2nd hearing), the Leafs will be awarded a second buyout window which they could use to free up some more cap space.  With Jared Cowen having filed a grievance over the attempted buyout from the first window (he maintains that he’s still rehabbing an injury sustained during the season, which would make him exempt from any buyout), the team may be waiting until it’s resolved in order to use the second buyout to terminate his contract. Joffrey Lupul, Milan Michalek, Colin Greening and Brooks Laich all remain as other possible options for the second buyout window, should the Maple Leafs choose to use it.

Predators Sign Matt Carle For $700K

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Nashville Predators have dipped into the free agent market Wednesday, signing UFA Matt Carle to a one-year, $700K contract.  Recently bought out by the Tampa Bay Lightning, we profiled Carle’s free agency and projected a contract between $750K-$1MM.  Obviously, this comes in below that and with it the Predators get a veteran blueliner with over 700 games experience.

After signing a huge six-year, $33MM contract with Tampa Bay before the 2012-13 season, Carle was never able to replicate the strong two-way play he provided for Philadelphia.  Last season, he only contributed 9 points (2-7) in 64 games, though he did chip in five assists in the playoffs.

The Predators came to an agreement with Petter Granberg the other day, avoiding arbitration and seemingly putting him in contention for a bottom-pairing spot; this Carle deal may throw a wrench in those plans, unless Nashville decides to start him in the AHL to try and rediscover his game.

Only 31, Carle has two 40+ point seasons under his belt and was once considered an excellent puck-moving defenseman. With P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm already locked into the top-four in Nashville, all Carle would have to do is provide solid bottom-pairing minutes against team’s third or fourth lines.  For a player who once logged over 23 minutes a night on a consistent basis, this is a low-risk, fairly high-reward move for the Predators.

Arbitration Breakdown: Tyson Barrie

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Early Wednesday morning it was reported that the Colorado Avalanche and Tyson Barrie have exchanged arbitration numbers in advance of their hearing scheduled for Friday. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet tells us that the the team has offered a two-year deal worth a total of $8.25MM, while Barrie’s camp has countered with a one-year, $6MM pact.

[For more background on the arbitration process, consult Parts One and Two of our Capology 101: Arbitration series.]

Barrie has played parts of five seasons already for the Avalanche, after being selected in the third-round of the 2009 draft and putting up impressive numbers in the AHL. His offensive game has been excellent since his debut, scoring 153 points in 264 games.

Last year, Barrie saw a slight dip in point production and a huge swing in plus/minus, ending with a -16 rating, third worst on the team (behind Jarome Iginla and Erik Johnson).  There have been detractors of Barrie’s defensive game for his entire career, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to improve a ton at this point.

Barrie does, however, have solid possession stats because of his deftness with the puck. He is a breakout machine when he does recover the puck in his own end, and can anchor a powerplay on any team. His 18 assists with the man-advantage led his team by a wide margin, and put him among the league leaders.

For what it’s worth, Barrie’s name has been bandied in trade (or offer sheet) speculation all summer, with some thinking that Colorado may not want to pay him what he’ll earn in arbitration.  His $6MM ask is a big one, which would equal Erik Johnson as the team’s highest paid defenseman.

Barrie’s Stats

2015-16: 78 GP, 13 G, 36 A, 49 P, 23:12 ATOI, -17 rating
Career: 264 GP, 40 G, 113 A, 153 P, 21:06 ATOI, -7 rating

Potential Comparables

Dougie Hamilton (Calgary) – Hamilton avoided arbitration before last season by signing a huge six-year, $34.5MM ($5.75MM AAV) deal on June 30th, a deal that is surely Barrie’s target in negotiations. Hamilton had played in less games, had lower production, but was a full three years younger than Barrie is now, and had been a top-ten pick. While Hamilton’s 6’5″ frame doesn’t compare very well, the deal for a puck moving offensive d-man does.

Nick Leddy (Islanders) – Leddy is a more age-appropriate comparison, and the Islander blueliner re-signed last season for a seven-year $38.5MM ($5.5MM AAV) deal that will keep him in Brooklyn (or Queens, or Nassau) for the long-term. Leddy had more games under his belt but trailed in production, only reaching 40 points for the first time this past year. He was, however, a possession-driving force similar to Barrie, and was coming off a season which garnered him Norris votes.

T.J. Brodie (Calgary) – Brodie didn’t have the same track record when he signed his five-year, $23.25MM deal before last season, but he was coming off a year similar to Barrie’s latest. Brodie is seen as a better two-way defender, but doesn’t have quite the offensive flair, which may be why his AAV of $4.65MM comes in well under the other two examples despite still being a very valuable member of the Flames’ back-end.

Projection

With the two sides nearly $2MM apart, it’s indicative of the reported distance in negotiations thus far.  While no other player has actually reached a hearing this summer, Barrie might be the first to leave his award in the hands of an arbitrator.  If a long-term deal is struck, Barrie might consider taking something around $4.75MM per season, but if it heads to a hearing it’s hard to believe the arbitrator will award anything less than $5MM.

With Barrie ranking just outside the top-10 in defenseman scoring across the last three seasons, he’ll point to the huge deals that the rest of his comparables have signed, and demand something in-line with those contracts.  We project a one-year, $5.25MM award from the arbitrator should the sides not be able to come to an agreement.

Predators Sign Calle Jarnkrok To $12MM Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

In an interesting move, the Nashville Predators have signed Calle Jarnkrok to a six-year, $12MM deal, according to a team release. Jarnkrok was set to head to arbitration on August 4th, but will now not only avoid it this summer but for his entire career; he’ll become an unrestricted free agent at the completion of this deal.

Not often (if ever) do you see a player commit to such a low salary for so long, but Jarnkrok must have appreciated the security of a long-term deal. He’ll earn just $2MM per season through 2021-22, making his offensive development almost irrelevant.

The Swedish centerman scored 16 goals and 30 points last season and saw his ice-time skyrocket to over 16 minutes a night. He was used in all situations, seeing time on both the powerplay and penalty kill, and is regarded as a building block for the Predators going forward.

His deal represents almost no risk to the Preds, as $2MM is a number given out regularly to third and fourth line players in today’s NHL – not to mention if the cap goes up over the next few seasons. If Jarnkrok can build on his performance from last season, and continue to put up 15-20 goals, he’ll be one of the best bargains in the league as he approaches his 30th birthday.

After signing Jarnkrok and Petter Granberg, Nashville has now avoided arbitration with both of their players, earning them an additional 48-hour buyout window that would start on Monday.

Just three players who filed for arbitration remain unsigned, with none actually taking part in a hearing thus far.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top